20 ways to develop your kid’s writing skill

Mostly kids are afraid of writing. To help them you should start growing passion in them about reading. It’s the most challenging task for every 7 out of 10 kids. Kids should write, anywhere, everywhere, irrespective of the fact they are sitting in class room or at home. Parents should also support them in their passion and develop writing passion. By adopting these 20 ways, you can develop your kid’s writing skills.

1. Develop their habit and love for reading.

One of most important things, you’d do for kids’ writing skills, is to encourage and develop their passion for reading. Writing is far more different than speaking. Here I would share something with you.

Few months back I traveled to Egypt. A naïve old man, out of curiosity asked me, through translator “how can your kids speak English language so fluently?” I softly replied, “Sir, just like your kids can speak Egyptian language so fluently and we cannot”.

Writing is entirely different from speaking. While speaking you don’t have to spell the words. Even we don’t worry when words sounds alike but spelled entirely different e.g hair & here, there & their. While speaking, we convey our meanings by using gestures, raising voices, crying or laughing. Even through dramatic effect, we can pause, whisper or shout.

But through writing, convey your feeling, just how feeling you are, is a much difficult, complicated and challenging task. While writing, an excellent writer can shout or whisper with varied sentence structure, classy vocabulary and with imagery. For example, Rohinton Mistry (Canadian-Indian Writer) did in his book “A fine balance”. As passionate readers acquire expertise with good writing techniques, your kid can also improve this quality through extensive reading. More they’ll read, they’ll develop mature sense of language.

2. Always encourage your kid for his writing.

Admire and encouragement, are most effective ways to stimulate your kids to keep writing. For example, encourage him by saying “I adore the way you portray the event! Especially description of birthday party, balloons and music. It looks like I was having party with you.” Sometimes as a teacher you help him with correction and editing, and you’ll see how affective it is. Show him bigger and wonderful picture of his short work.

3. Don’t put them in competition of No. 1.

In our society one of the most awful self-righteous kinds of statement is that if you want to do something, then do it perfectly. It has been observed that individuals who try to do everything rightly would either going crazy or would stop doing.

This mindset is bad for writers. It’s a hurdle, which every writer face when he would try to write a perfect and flawless story. Therefore, always encourage kids to write, to become a writer and not a perfect writer.

Mostly kids, who are messy and casually confused in their childhood, would later develop ability to concentrate and focus. May be the reason that with immeasurable suffering with any activity, they would end up with love with that.

4. Don’t edit their work, even if you have any objection.

It is understandable that your kid may have different taste of writing than yours. Every kid has its own thinking style, metaphors and description. Little kids may want to write about death, murders, vampires or story where everybody is desperate. Likewise, cute little girls may want to write about love stories. Kids having poetic sense may write silly and childish poems.

There is no need to worry, just wait to cross their initial stage, and run their track. Just be appreciative towards them, it’s a bliss that your kids share any kind of writing with you. More patient and calmer you are, they’ll go for serious writing.

5. Don’t dictate them and allow them to have their taste.

Try to understand that, just like reading, every kid has different flavor of writing. Don’t dictate them with your flavor and encourage them to do writing whatever they enjoy. Mostly there are three kids of young writer.

First who love to write descriptively and try to write personal records and poetry.

Second who are perceptive to tenor voice and write character-full story and influential essays.

Third who are enthralled with factual information and history and tries to write difficult plots painted with accurate historical detail.

A variety of kids’ writing doesn’t matter. Because any kind of continuous writing would help them to become versatile writer. As mostly students at school level tries to writer better academically. By the time they acquire such a tone and style, that they use detail in good way. Additionally they’d develop better style than others who would not try to write. Who write descriptively can create characters and are better in literary analysis e.g. writer who love writing on factual information.

6. Don’t panic with grammar.

Try to be less concern about grammar in their writing as they are just trying to write. They’ll frustrate while learning about grammar. Mostly grammar is about acquiring and development with the passage of time and not learning with great effort. We hear and learn to speak naturally what we hear, they’ll learn to write grammatically correct while they read extensively. Mostly kids with hard learning of grammar, would lose their interest in writing, even couldn’t perfectly speak. Best way to learn grammar is to read and read a lot.

7. Write for you happiness.

Keep a diary with you, write your family history, write some poetry or letters. Any kind of writing you’d enjoy. Such your enjoyment of writing would attract your kids as well. In this way not only you’ll explore the ways of good writing but also will guide your kid.

8. Appreciate them to talk about them.

Let them talk about their day and encouraging them to tell you about their interests. This strongest inspiration for writing that you believe that what you are saying is worthwhile. So start listening even tiny details of your kid’s life when they want to talk with you.

9. Don’t try to control their feelings.

You can’t expect anything from a child, but childish. They are unable to understand and will speak honestly and vividly. Such vividness and vibrancy in describing his feelings is a sign that he could develop good writing skill. It’s better for kids if you talk with them about their feelings.

May be your little daughter trying to tell you that “she don’t like her teacher”. Make sure you don’t tell her instantly that “don’t say that, it’s bad to say such words about your teacher”. Reason? She cannot change the way how she feels, rather she’ll develop guilty feeling or become angry. Or such feelings about her teacher make her miserable and volatile. Try to handle the situation with appropriate words like “I know dear it’s natural that you don’t like all of your teachers. Let’s try to talk to your teacher, maybe we can make a way.”

It’s good writer who learn how to deal with feelings and write beautifully with emotions.

10. Actively listen to them.

Absolute listening your kid, will help him to explore on his experiences and ideas. For example ask him:

You:  What did you do at class today?

Kid:     We had a color day, everybody was wearing orange color.

Now try to engage him more so that he elaborates about his day activity in some more detail. Now the trick behind this practice is that while avoiding direct questions, you show him that you are concerned and attentive listener.

So don’t get bored while doing this and stay quiet for a while to listen him. If he don’t say anything, then push him and ask him if he enjoyed or bored. Such kind of attention would give your child an ability to write with details and emotion.

11. Teach them to respect other’s opinions.

Kids are not able to think dynamically and think that there is only one way to do things. Their teachers teach them to write something or do something, in a particular way, they’ll stick to it. You’ll feel terrible while changing the way they think, and therefore should gradually eliminate this thinking. You have to do this so that kid can develop many multifarious thinking ways. Be gentle, and try to coordinate with wordings like “I think there are many other ways to do that thing”. Try to make kid open-minded and flexible, and that’s the way for good writer and good people.

12. Encourage them to think imaginatively.

Fairy tales and inventive stories like story of Cinderella, princesses or lion in the jungle, are great for kids. It’ll help them to gain experience to create their stories. They’ll learn to create a plot, can speak in various tones through writing and create whole fictional world.

13. Help them with sound of different words.

A basic element of good writer is that he is living to cadence, rhythm, and sound of words. So don’t feel shy, and help you kid to enjoy sound of different words, even by making silly sentences. Get him feel the fun with language.

14. Don’t stop them from writing anywhere, at least in your home.

Kids in their early ages love to write like drawing through crayon colors on in their books or drawing on walls. Don’t get crazy with colored chalk all over the home or sidewalk, or smearing of colors in the corridor. It’ll help them to thinking loud. Even if you become crazy, just provide them necessary stuff for their craze. On the other hand you should reward and appreciate such little attempts.

15. Give them more writing stuff.

If you want to develop passion writing in your kids, then arrange more writing stuff in your house. Have plenty of pencils, makers, erasers, crayon colors, chalk, or anything he enjoys to draw with on plain paper.

16. Ask them to tell about their drawing.

When they would be able to communicate their feelings to you, ask them about their drawings. Ask them what they are drawing, but with good manners, and don’t just say “What have you drawn”. Empathize, and feel that your kid want to bewilder you with its amazing masterpiece. So don’t just ruin that feeling and appreciate with “Oh wow, it look great. Now tell me what this is about.” Alongwith praising try to encourage so that they can describe in detail about their drawing.

17. Appreciate their work.

In order to appreciate and encourage them, display their writing and drawing art, in different parts of home. Show these pieces to relatives with gesture of appreciation. Reason behind this technique is that they’ll not hesitate to share their work with others. Put their work on refrigerator, behind T.V. LCD, kitchen walls or anywhere in the home.

18. Don’t criticize their work, at least in the start.

At the initial stage, when he is just taking off, you just have to give him confidence. Because initially, they’d expect approval and admiration from you. After they started thinking themselves as a writer, they’ll keen to do it in a better way. Just make sure that such suggestion and correction must be with caution. For example you can ask him, if he is comfortable if you’ll do some correction. Then in an appropriate way suggest him like;

Just imagine if this character would perform this, how it will synchronize with structure of your story?

19. Give honor to his privacy.

Just nail it in your mind that respect your kids’ privacy and never read his writing without taking his permission. Not even notes in his notebook or textbooks or school papers. Not even notes from their friend. If you want to read, then show your interest sophisticatedly that you’d like to read, but never insist. Don’t even sneak him.

20. Show honor to his opinions.

Listen to your kid, whatever he want to say, just try to listen. Even you can see clearly that you disagrees what he is saying or asking, just respectfully listen your kid. It’ll boost his confidence and help him to become confident writer. Once kids assumed that their parents have no respect to whatever they say, they’ll be depressed. Unfortunately, they’d think that they have nothing to say valuable.